Supply chain involvement in business continuity management: effects on reputational and operational damage containment from supply chain disruptions

Purpose Does internal integration extend to business continuity and to managing supply chain disruptions (SCDs)? Despite the voluminous literature on supply chain integration, evidence on its effectiveness on risk management and disruption response is scant. The purpose of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of business continuity management (BCM) and of supply chain involvement in BCM (SCiBCM) on reputational and operational damage containment in the face of SCDs. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on Simons’ Levers of Control framework to explain how the involvement of supply chain in BCM affects firm capabilities in containing damages caused by major SCDs. The authors develop and test hypotheses by analyzing large-scale questionnaire responses from 448 European companies. Findings Results of the data analysis suggest that BCM improves reputational damage containment, whereas SCiBCM improves operational damage containment. The findings also show that the significant effects of BCM and SCiBCM on reputational and operational damage containment, respectively, were amplified for the firms facing higher supply chain vulnerability. Post-hoc analysis further reveals the complementarity effect between BCM and SCiBCM for the companies exposed to high supply chain vulnerability. Originality/value Evidence on the effects of BCM and its internal integration on performance is limited. This study offers empirical evidence on the topic. Also, while supply chain integration can improve information sharing and coordination, some may not fully recognize its potential benefits in addressing SCDs. This study theoretically and empirically demonstrates the role played by internal integration, in the form of SCiBCM, in improving organizational damage containment efforts

COST AS A FACTOR IN CHINA'S RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND ACQUISITION (RDA) CYCLES AND DECISION-MAKING

Considerable attention is paid each year to costing Chinese weapons systems and then aggregating individual system estimates into total Chinese defense costs. Aggregate figure costs are then compared against those of the United States as a guidepost for assessing the adequacy of U.S. defense spending and as a substitute in planning for the Chinese military threat. These standard treatments of cost might gloss the depth and breadth of risk associated with the U.S. defense spending profile. The future of the Department of Defense is toward the INDOPACOM theater, and China is our peer threat. There is very little academic research into how China conducts defense spending and, most importantly, how it intends to invest in future capabilities. This study will continue the 2018 NPS thesis Comparison of Naval Acquisition Efficiency between the United States and China; however, it will focus on Marine Corps–specific investments. The findings of this thesis will help inform how the influence of cost on Chinese weapon acquisition decision-making informs Force Design 2030 decision-making.Captain, United States Marine CorpsApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Feature Papers of Drones - Volume II

[EN] The present book is divided into two volumes (Volume I: articles 1–23, and Volume II: articles 24–54) which compile the articles and communications submitted to the Topical Collection ”Feature Papers of Drones” during the years 2020 to 2022 describing novel or new cutting-edge designs, developments, and/or applications of unmanned vehicles (drones). Articles 24–41 are focused on drone applications, but emphasize two types: firstly, those related to agriculture and forestry (articles 24–35) where the number of applications of drones dominates all other possible applications. These articles review the latest research and future directions for precision agriculture, vegetation monitoring, change monitoring, forestry management, and forest fires. Secondly, articles 36–41 addresses the water and marine application of drones for ecological and conservation-related applications with emphasis on the monitoring of water resources and habitat monitoring. Finally, articles 42–54 looks at just a few of the huge variety of potential applications of civil drones from different points of view, including the following: the social acceptance of drone operations in urban areas or their influential factors; 3D reconstruction applications; sensor technologies to either improve the performance of existing applications or to open up new working areas; and machine and deep learning development